Alexander III

Alexander III deserves the title “great”. Alexander III is the son of King Philip II of Macedonia. King Philip II sought to conquer. During Alexander’s boyhood, his father built the Macedonian army into a deadly fighting machine. The Macedonian Army used complex and clever tactics- those of which only brought them to conquer nearby Greek city-states. King Philip then planned to attack the vast Persian Empire, but soon was sadly assassinated. The former leader, King Philip II, left his kingdom to then be inherited by Alexander III. At the age of twenty, eager to lead, it was a tough task for Alexander. The Persian Empire was near impossible to conquer as it was the most powerful kingdom at the time. Nevertheless, Alexander pushed eastwards

Alexander III did not give up right away. In the conquering of the vast Persian Empire, he persevered and pushed through the trials that tried to defeat him and the Macedonian army. In a hot desert, a trial that tried to defeat them was thirst. According to a biography written in Alexander’s time, it states, “The army was crossing a desert of sand; the sun was already blazing down upon them, but they were struggling on under the necessity of reaching water... Alexander, like everyone else, was tormented by thirst, but he was nonetheless marching on foot at the head of his men. It was all he could do to keep going, but he did so, and the result was that the men were the better able to endure their misery when they saw that it was equally shared” (document D). This adds also to the fact that he was caring. He could have just found water and drank it for himself, but he made a bold decision to suffer like the soldiers, which was somewhat comforting to the rest of the Macedonian army. Next, Alexander III persevered and used clever ways to carry out his plan. According to the writings of an ancient Greek philosopher, he states, “When Alexander saw this he decided to move his troops in all different directions so that Porus would keep puzzled . . . At night he would take most of his cavalry to various points along the river bank where he would create a clamor, raise the war cry and produce all other such

Alexander III halted his journey to conquer because of him being sick, and his soldiers resistance. According to a biography written in Alexander’s time, it states, “Alexander, like everyone else, was tormented by thirst, but he was nonetheless marching on foot at the head of his men. It was all he could do to keep going, but he did so, and the result was that the men were the better able to endure their misery when they saw that it was equally shared” (document D). This shows a chain reaction. When Alexander survived under the same conditions that the rest of the Macedonian army did during the journey, that was somewhat comforting to them as they pushed through the struggles. Next, the text states, “ Seven thousand Tyrians died and the number would have been far higher... The great city was now utterly destroyed” (document C). This is also a chain reaction, because if Alexander did not encourage the Macedonian army, they would not have been able to conquer Tyre. The Macedonian army as a whole showed mercy to the cities that surrendered without a fight, so they can be ruthless and merciful. Nonetheless, the Macedonian army did not disappoint. All in all, Alexander III deserves the title “great” because of his